II.
A Wanted Woman

"You certainly have a way with men" Mary turned as her partner in crime entered the room once more. She looked at the man with the sandy blonde hair who was passed out on the bed. It was the lipstick. It had a drug mixed into it – fast acting, but not lethal. Mary ignored the light haired woman's taunt and walked back to the vanity and began to very carefully wipe the lipstick off her lips. If she ingested it, it would be her on the floor. By the time she had turned back once more, her partner was already looking through the man's coin purse.

"Does he have a lot on him?"

"More than they usually do. Not very smart are they?" Rhona was grinning now, her light eyes sparkling. "We can use this to get back to Kingston and still have some for a little while. Plus, I had two clients today…"

"Tosh! Clients." Hissed Mary. "Why you keep up this "merry" work, I'll never know. Men are pigs and they don't care for you. Might as well quit this posh job and just be thieves in earnest" Mary hadn't taken a "client" since she and Rhona had begun thieving. She found the job disgusting, though she had only been doing it for a few years herself. Rhona had been at it longer than she. They had met in the brothel in Kingston and become fast friends.

They had similar pasts. Failed marriages, dealing with asshole men and then finally turning to the streets because there wasn't much else for them. Not for women like them. Free thinkers, not settlers. They couldn't settle for a man, become subservient to some man who thought himself better than them and was really just a oaf who wouldn't know his arse from a hole in the ground. No, Mary had a deep dislike for men, especially ones who just seemed to think women were tools. Like the man on the bed.

They raided all his pockets and purses and left nothing of value on his person. When they were done, they tucked their take away in their corsets and purses and then turned to leave, letting the man on the bed. Rhona hesitated at the door, glancing at him. Mary paused a little ahead of her. She saw another of the whore looking their way and gave her a stiff glare until she moved on. Mary was known to be unfriendly and unkind to most. She didn't enjoy being that way, that tension always in the pit of her stomach but she had no choice. She had to. She glanced back at Rhona who looked at her, a sorry smile on her face.

"It's a shame. He was actually quite decent"

"Probably from a lifetime of whoring around." Mary rolled her eyes. "Let's get out of here. He'll be waking up soon. Morning is coming, I'd like to be on a ship before it's completely upon us." The two of them exited the room and the brothel quickly, making their way through the still dark and sleepy town. The sun wasn't yet up but the horizon was a hazy pink mixed with orange. They had to be across town and on a boat before first light. Most everyone was asleep in a drunk haze or hidden away in one of the shanty houses. It was the one good thing about Nassau, there weren't really any type of guards in the place. They were able to move from the town to the beach without even being noticed.

They were scoping out the ships and trying to figure out which one was going the way they needed when they saw two men moving along the beach. They ducked down behind some crates as they came close. The two men paused nearby, as if looking for someone or something.

"Some of my crew didn't return last night. Edward was among them. I wonder if he had changed his mind about sailing with me? Maybe he doesn't have the gull to be a pirate after all"

"I doubt it, from what you told me about him. Don't worry about him Ed. He had needs last night. He probably wore himself out. He'll be back sometime later today" The other man replied.

"I suppose you're right." And then the two of them wandered off, still speaking, though in voices so low Mary nor Rhona understood them.

"His name was Edward" Rhona said softly as they stood, brushing the sand from their dresses. Mary looked over at her, wondering what she was talking about. "The man we left…his name was Edward. I wonder…"

"For hell's…Edward is a common name" Mary didn't think that they were the same person. Why would they be? "Look, that ship's clearly from Havana. It's probably headed to Kingston after here, perhaps with a stop or two at fishing villages." Nassau was a good side stop between Kingston and Havana for pirates who didn't want to make the trip in one long stretch.

So the two of them found an abandoned row boat and rowed out to the ship and quietly as mice, boarded her. While a single man patrolled the deck, they easily slipped past him and to the lower deck. A few people wandered around here, but nothing they couldn't handle. The two of them slipped into a storage room, and find a stack of crates that they could easily hide behind. It wasn't comfortable and they would have to take turns sleeping so they weren't discovered but they had made such journeys before. They were never so pleasant and quite frankly, they had been caught a few times. They had always managed to slip away or make disguises and play for pity. Men were more like to pity men than they were women after all. Women were ill luck on a ship, stowaway boys could be used to do work that no one else wanted to do.

So they sat, planning on a silent trip. They could steal food when most of the rest of the ship was a sleep but otherwise, they knew they'd be sitting here, cramped and uncomfortable. At least it would get them where they needed to go. At least they'd get away with their money now. It was quiet a bit and Mary couldn't wait until she could actually sit down and count it. Maybe it'd be enough...But probably not. It never was enough.

Edward felt like shit when he woke up. He felt like he had drank a whole barrel of rum himself and then some. He lay on the soft bed for a long time, wanting to get up to move but not wanting to, knowing that he was probably going to throw up if he did. It took him a while to catch the scent in the room, a soft perfume, worn by whores to entice men. That was what made him open his eye and jump hastily to his feet.

The whores he had been with last night!

He staggered back against the bed, his head spinning something awful. He remembered kissing the one, feeling…strange afterward. She had poisoned him. Not killed him obviously but put him to sleep for…He glanced at a the window, the curtains were still drawn but he could see sunlight on the floor. He cursed and spat and felt like a right fool.

And then he felt even more foolish as he began to search his pockets. What the hell? Where was all his gold? All his things? Those bitches had robbed him and left him lie! He cursed and spat and felt right pissed. It took him a while to calm down, by which point he had stormed from the whore house and to the beach to stare at the water. They were long gone by now. They weren't fools, they'd probably skipped town with all the wealth he had gathered. He felt his chest ache with the anger he was holding in there.

"There you are lad!" A hand clamped hard on his shoulder and he turned, ready to shove his fist into the nose of the person so foolish as to touch him in his current mood to see that it was Thatch, grinning with a bottle of rum in his hand. "And why do you look so sour?"

"I was robbed"

"Was you? A pirate robbed, eh?" He was laughing.

"It's not funny." He snapped and he regretted that because a look flashed in Thatch's dark eyes. He was so cross himself right now though, he didn't care if it was dangerous pissing this man off. Thatch looked at him for a long time and he didn't back down. Gods help him if he did.

"Alright, and who robbed you lad? Let's gut them and rob them back." His mood was suddenly merry again and Edward had the feeling he had just passed some sort of unspoken test. He shook the feeling off and crossed his arms.

"Two women" Thatch opened his mouth, a smile on the corner of his lips, "Two beautiful women at that. Crafty as they were pretty. One had some sort of…poison on her. Knocked me out for hours."

"Well…ain't it so that I thought I spied two women boarding a ship in the early morning. I was coming down to the beach to piss and I thought I saw them climb onto a ship that left only an hour later. Methinks that it might have been them" He paced back and forth in front of Edward. "And what are you going to do?"

"Go after them. Make them pay for robbing me" Edward nodded to himself. "Do you know where they were going, Ed?"

"I drank with few of the crew of that ship last night. They said they was heading towards Kingston" He nodded to himself too, thinking probably. "But I don't favor that route, Edward." He opened his mouth to protest, "But I know a man who will take you. You'll have to be careful about him. He's as likely to hug you as he is to slit your throat, but he's a good captain. Most of the time. I knew him when I was a Quartermaster myself. A bit cruel he can be, but…what of us ain't a little cruel from time to time?" He slapped Edward on the shoulder, twice and hard, a grin coming across his features.

"Thanks Ed." He smiled back.

"Ah, well just do good for him. Show him that I can make a man out of a boy in record time!" Then he howled with laughter, as if he had said something particularly fun. Edward laughed too, but only because he didn't want to offend the other man.

And so the two walked back towards town, talking in low voices, Ed helping him plan. Those women weren't getting away. They thought they were, but they weren't. He was coming for them and he would make them pay.

A/N: This chapter was shorter because it was only meant to introduce Mary and Rhona as they truly are. This story has a few twist in its kinks that led Mary (and Rhona) to being whores instead of the women we know from the game. I can't explain them now, as they are spoilers but in the future all will be explained. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and stay tuned for the next chapter.